Gyeongbokgung in the Spring

We retraced our steps from winter with a visit to Gyeongbokgung, the main palace grounds for the Lee dynasty with our friend Garth Muncy who was doing a "visa Hula" from Shanghai. The palace grounds are a whole lot more enjoyable when it isn't in the low twenties. It was a clear Sunday  afternoon, with only occasionally passing clouds, and the humidity was fairly low.
I figure that going to the palace will be a standard distraction for friends and relatives that visit us while we are here. The grounds are extensive and in two visits this year we have only seen about two thirds of the palaces.
There is a good sized pond in the middle of the grounds that has a "tea house" where the Emperor would meet with his concubine of the day.   The building and the bridge are not accessible to the average sight-seer, but I understand "VIPs" are given tours that shows just how good it was to be king.
We all had lunch in Insadong, which is a cleaner, artsier version of Namdaemun. Found an interesting restaurant whose name escapes me but I  could find again, that had a garden as it's center piece and served up an outstanding "seafood pancake" or hamul pachun.  Have to go back there again some day.

Sunday at Hongik University

Took the subway over to the Hongik Station where the famous University of that name has its campus on a beautiful Sunday afternoon with highs in the low seventies. Hongik University is South Korea’s premier school for the arts and applied technology. There was an exam being given (Korean’s seem to favor cruel and unusual punishment, like exams on beautiful Sunday afternoons) so the University Art gallery was closed.  In any case, the purpose of our junket was reconnaissance: we will return on a Saturday when there is even more hustle and bustle.

We had lunch in a great noodle shop right across from the Hongik Free Market. The menu sported nine dishes five different types of noodles, two fried rice and a plain-Jane bowl of white rice in addition to 6 soda flavors and one brand beer which happened to be Cass, a favorite of mine. The food was great for the price and the “automated waiter/cashier” could be the subject of a Korean Take Away entry. Basically a customer uses a touch screen kiosk in the front of the restaurant to select your dish and beverage, you pay, a ticket goes to the kitchen and hey presto, the only actual real-live waiter/waitress brings your food and beverage in short order.  When your finished your meal,  you just walk away. No waiting to place your order or pay for it.

 

So after lunch we steamed across the street to examine the free market. There was only one visual artist with a sign that said no photos, which was unnecessary: why waste allocated memory? Dreadfully boring landscapes poorly defined compositions punctuated by rudimentary application of contrived impasto. But some of the crafters had some very interesting creations, among them a woman making lovely silk wallets.